A Devotion for 13 June 2019 Anno Domini, the Anglican Orthodox Communion Worldwide
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
(Proverbs 22:6; all scripture quoted is from the King James Version)
“The evil and malicious influences that children are subjected to in our modern society – even by those who are supposed to be their role models – is alarming. In our public schools, children are introduced to perversions of which it would have been illegal to publicly discuss only a few decades ago. The academics are deliberately reduced to illogical patterns in math and science; and social behavior that challenges the imagination are promoted among the young and innocent. You may wonder why this is happening especially with the sanction of government. It is because of the deliberate intent of many in government to promote a form of globalism that can only exist when its citizenry is reduced to ignorance and serfdom. Socialism has been the fall of many formerly great peoples, and it will be no exception when imposed on the United States of America – and it will be unless the citizens rise up in righteous indignation against the immorality and plunder taking place in government.
“I have run across some very notable stories collected by Mr. C.F. Kleinknecht which present moral lessons to us. The story I share today comes from Vol III of his work entitled, The Kleinknecht Gems of Thought Encyclopedia, second revision, Washington, D.C. (1959)
“Some school superintendents and teachers seem to fall for anything and everything that is new.
“There are some old things that are mighty good. The Ten Commandments, for instance. We do not believe that “train up a child in the way he should go” can be improved upon.
“Some of the old ways produced very fine fruit. The greatest and noblest men who have ever lived are not alive today, in spite of all the ‘new’ methods of rearing children. It has been said that John Wesley’s mother did not allow any of her nineteen children to cry aloud after they were one year of age. We have often wondered how she did it. Anyhow, she produced John and Charles Wesley, without the aid of new methods. Jesse (father of King David) reared a fine boy, away back yonder, when some of the moderns tell us they scarcely knew how to read and write.
“We are not opposed to ‘new’ things and new ways – that is, some of them. But much is being foisted upon parents, teachers, and orphanage superintendents these days, is, in our judgment, pure bunk! It is as easy for children to learn John 3:16 as it is for them to learn “there was an old woman who lived in a shoe.” Then, after they are aware that no old woman ever lived in a shoe, John 3:16 abides as an eternal truth, pointing to the hope in the world for a human being. While children are being taught about birds, bees, trees and bugs, it is just as easy to teach them about the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
“We are being told that children should not be restrained nor disciplined – that they should be allowed to freely develop their natural bents and characteristics (echoes of Dr. Spock, JLO). Some people who write books and make speeches about children, who have had none of their own, have to learn that the average child is “hell bent” from birth. David was a “man after God’s own heart,” but he knew he was a sinner from his mother’s womb. I knew a family of Quillans from North Georgia consisting of nine or ten boys. One became a Foreign Missionary and all the others became ministers. When the mother was asked how she did it, the answer was “prayer and the hickory.” (for those who may not know, a hickory is a long slender branch of a tree used to whip a disobedient child). The number of criminal youth these days, impress one with the idea that there is something woefully lacking in modern training, to say the least.
“It is partly true that God does not coerce man, but He distinctly says that if a man “willeth not to do His good pleasure” he will land in perdition. Those who are charged with the rearing of children, are obliged to keep them out of jail in this world and out of Hell in the next. That is why we are given the ignorant, helpless babyhood. Sin is in all of them and soon begins to crop out in sinful acts. Sin deserves to be punished and if a child is not taught so, he waits a terrible awakening. And those who have failed to so teach, will share the retribution awaiting him.
“At this home (an orphanage), the policy is to train children. The fine character of our Alumni abundantly justifies this policy.”
The thoughts expressed by the writer above may seem old fashioned and dated; however, ancient truth is never outdated or old fashioned. A great nation has been built upon the North American continent by men who believed, and adhered, to the ancient truths expressed in Holy Writ. When a child learns that there are consequences for misbehavior in this world, it is a simple matter for him to understand that severe consequences may be forthcoming for egregious sin in the world to come.
Most readers of my own age will recall that little school jingle we sang at the beginning of our first year in Primary, or Grammar (Elementary), school:
School days, school days
Dear old Golden Rule days
‘Reading and ‘riting and ‘rithmetic
Taught to the tune of the hick’ry stick
You were my queen in calico
I was your bashful, barefoot beau
And you wrote on my slate, “I Love You, Joe”
When we were a couple o’ kids.
Well, there is something being taught in schools today that is not the golden Rule, nor is it the fundamentals of “reading, and writing, and arithmetic.” The hickory stick has been abandoned and nothing has taken its place unless it is behavior calming drugs that ruin the child’s brain. The innocence of simple attire and the early sentiments of puppy love have been replaced with teachings that are, in any sense of the word, pornographic and depraved.
Here are a few simple thoughts of eternal truth to consider:
Moses solemnly commanded to faithfully teach the Word of God to the children. Said he: “Ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest in the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” (Deuteronomy 11:19)
“The best child welfare work used to be done in the woodshed.”
“In the old days children were controlled largely by switches. Today most everything is controlled by switches, EXCEPT children.”
“Her house is very modern:
A switch for every chore,
Except her little four-year job –
And nothing needs it MORE!”
– Anna Yarborough
“A backward country might be said to be one in which the children still respect their parents.”
“Today parents say the children do not understand a spanking and that you have to reason with them. But to me it seems they understand a sharp smack on the bottom a lot faster than they do a lot of talk. I don’t mean to beat them cruelly. Severe punishment will never change a child.” Steve Averinos
“It now cost more to amuse a child than it once did to educate his father.” Vaughn Monroe
“Children can be a pain in the neck when they are around, and on the other hand, a pain in the heart when their whereabouts are unknown.”
“Never forget that once and for a whole year you were a ten-year old yourself.”
It is my prayer that America will again turn to love their children enough to discipline them and teach them the ancient truths found in God’s Holy Word. (JLO)
